Darla moved efficiently around the cozy kitchen as she finished up the meal she was preparing for dinner. Serenity could tell she was excited, which made her happy but also irritated her just a bit.
"I don"t see what the big deal is," she said for the fifteenth time.
Darla stopped in mid-stride and turned to face her. "The bid deal is that it"s a boy."
Serenity"s lips tightened as she attempted not to smile. She wanted to laugh at the expression she was sure would be on Dair"s face at being called a boy. Serenity knew that Dair was anything but a boy.
"And?"
"Well, you"ve never had a boy over before."
She knew what Darla wanted to say was, FINALLY, you do something normal. But what she didn"t know was that Dair wasn"t normal. In fact, nothing about the situation was normal. But as she thought about the Sandman who was slowly stealing her heart, she realized she didn"t want normal. Normal, she decided, was highly overrated.
"Up until now, no boys have interested me," she admitted honestly.
Darla nodded. "Well, it"s not like you"ve had a ma.s.sive selection to choose from."
Serenity laughed. "No, I suppose not."
"I"ve told Wayne to be on his best behavior." Her aunt winked.
"You know that Wayne only cause him to want to do the exact opposite, right? In fact I bet right now he is out there in the living room going through his wide array of joke books trying to find one that is sure to cause Dair the most embarra.s.sment possible." Serenity could tell Darla wasn"t worried in the least.
"The boy needs to prove he can handle a little bit of your uncle."
Serenity groaned. "That"s asking a bit much at the first meeting, don"t you think?"
Darla continued what she had been doing as she shook her head. "If he"s as awesome as that smile on your face claims he is, then Dair will be just fine."
Dair took a deep breath as he stood on the porch of Serenity"s aunt and uncle"s home. He couldn"t believe how nervous he was over meeting a couple of mortals, admittedly these weren"t just any ordinary humans. They were the guardians of the woman he was falling for. It was important to him that they like him because he knew it would be important to Serenity as well. He held two roses in his hands, one white and one red. Letting out one final breath he lifted his hand and knocked on the door.
The door opened and Serenity stood looking at him with a shy smile spread across her beautiful face. "Happy to see me?" he teased.
"Perhaps." She grinned wider and then motioned for him to enter.
Dair held out the red rose to her. "For you."
"Thank you."
"You must be Dair!"
He looked up to see Darla come bustling out of the kitchen with a wide, friendly smile beaming on her face. It was one of those smiles that was so genuine the receiver couldn"t help but smile back.
"And you must be Aunt Darla," Dair said as Darla wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
"It"s so nice to meet you. You know it"s not every day that Serenity invites a young man home."
Dair stepped back from the hug and glanced over at a now blushing Serenity. He gave her a quick wink before looking back at her aunt. "I"m glad to hear that."
"I hope you"re hungry," Darla said as she motioned for him to follow her, "because I"ve cooked up a feast just for you."
Serenity laughed. "She"s so kindly going to let the rest of us partake of the feast she made especially for you."
Dair reached for her hand and pulled her with him as he followed after Darla. "Well, even the plebeians have to eat." As they entered the kitchen Dair saw that Wayne was already seated at the table. He stood and reached out a large hand to him. Dair met the man"s eyes and saw mischief dancing behind them as he shook Wayne"s hand.
"Dair, I suppose?" Wayne asked.
"Yes sir," Dair answered. "It"s nice to meet you Uncle Wayne. Serenity has told me a lot about both of you and thinks very highly of you."
"Well, come on in and have a seat," Wayne told him and motioned for Dair to take a chair at the table.
Once they were seated Darla started bringing over plates for each of them filled with delicious smelling food. There was roast, potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, rolls, and macaroni and cheese. Dair didn"t have to eat, but he enjoyed it when he did. He waited until everyone was seated and for Darla to begin eating before he picked up his own fork and began. Serenity sat at his right and kept shooting him sly glances, each of which he returned with a wink that drew a lovely flush to her skin.
"So Dair, how old are you?" Wayne asked.
Dair swallowed the bite he had just taken before answering. He had thought about the questions he might be asked and came up with some answers that he hoped wouldn"t raise suspicion. "I"m twenty."
Wayne nodded. "Are you in school or do you work?"
"I plan to go to school, but right now I"m just traveling a bit. I guess you could say that I have inherited good fortune and have the means to do so."
"How did you end up in Yellville?" Darla asked.
Dair had expected this question but had struggled to come up with an adequate answer. He knew he needed to have something better than just "pa.s.serby." As much as he hated to flat out lie to Darla and Wayne, he didn"t really have a choice. "I recently purchased some land in the mountains. I"ve been looking for a place to build a cabin, and Arkansas is one of the most beautiful places I"ve ever been that still has any wild land left to speak of." He knew that he couldn"t get away with saying he had family there because Darla probably knew just about everyone in the town.
"We have lots of people who buy mountain homes for retirement or just use as summer homes. Although you are much younger than the people we usually get. But then I guess if I had the money to do what I wanted with and didn"t have to work, I probably would as well." Wayne nodded.
"I want to work. I don"t want you to think that I"m in anyway lazy," Dair explained. "I"m just trying to find a place to get settled before deciding on what to do next." He glanced over at Serenity hoping that maybe he could gauge how he was doing by her expression. She smiled and nodded at him approvingly.
"Okay," Wayne said suddenly. "Time to get down to the important stuff."
Dair set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Okay." He waited, expecting Wayne to ask him what his intentions were towards Serenity. This was something he had considered as well. He didn"t want to scare them by saying that he wanted Serenity for his own for all time, though that was true enough, but he wanted them to understand that he wasn"t just playing the field, as he"d heard human males call meaningless dating. Serenity was important to him and Dair wanted to make sure that Darla and Wayne understood that.
Wayne cleared his throat before he started. "An old widow bought an antique from a shop. . ."
Serenity let out a loud groan but Wayne just ignored her and kept right on going.
"And brought it home. As she was polishing it up a genie burst from it and said, "You have awakened me from my slumber! I shall now grant you three wishes!" The widow asked for a cottage in the country. The genie nodded his head, and suddenly she found herself holding the deed to a little place outside of town. The widow then asked for enough money to be wealthy for the rest of her days. The genie nodded and suddenly they were surrounded by piles of money. "You have one more wish," the genie said. The widow pointed to her pet cat and said, "Ever since my dear husband died this cat has been my faithful companion. Please, turn him into a handsome young man who will make love to me just as my husband did." The genie nodded and disappeared. Suddenly there was an extremely handsome young man standing where her cat used to be. The woman gasped with joy, but the man just glared at her. After a few moments, he finally said, "Well, I bet now you are sorry you got me neutered!""
Dair laughed, not only because of the joke but because he had seriously thought Wayne was about to grill him, not tell him a dirty joke. Once they"d all collected themselves, Dair shot Serenity a shy look before turning back to Wayne. "Okay, I"ve got one for you then. I don"t think the ladies will find it too offensive," he said, shooting Darla a quick wink. "Why doesn"t a chicken wear pants?"
Dair waited with eyebrows raised, giving them time to think it over and answer. After a few seconds, he answered his own question.
"Because his p.e.c.k.e.r is on his head."
Wayne was laughing so hard the table was shaking. Dair glanced over at Serenity whose mouth had dropped open. He reached across and gently pushed her chin up and winked.
"I think he"s a keeper, Serenity," Wayne said as he took a deep breath, composing himself after the boisterous laugh. "Any man that can tell a joke like that and keep a straight face. . . yep, he"s a keeper."
"Glad to know that"s your standard, Uncle Wayne," Serenity said dryly.
"Who"s ready for dessert?" Darla spoke up before Wayne could retaliate.
An hour later, they were still gathered around the dining room table, only playing cardsrather than delicious foodwere spread out before them. In all the millennia that he"d been alive, Dair had never played cards before; he"d never had any reason to. But he was a fast learner and picking up the game they called crazy eights with no problems. Wayne kept trying to distract Dair with dirty jokes. What Wayne didn"t realize was, though the dirty jokes weren"t distracting to him, the blush that continued to get redder on Serenity"s lovely skin definitely was a distraction. So in a roundabout way, Uncle Wayne was being successful.
"Did you let them win?" Serenity asked him later that evening as they stood on the porch. The cold night air was crisp and refreshing and was helping Dair clear his head of any ungentlemanly thoughts.
"No, why do you ask?"
"I just figured an immortal who is as old as you are would be, I don"t know, better at stuff."
"Better at stuff?" he asked with a small crooked smile.
Serenity shoved his shoulder. "You know what I mean."
"I"m afraid, my lady, that I do not know what you mean. What stuff are you implying I should be better at because of my immortally old status?" Dair"s eyes twinkled with mischief as he spoke in a style that was definitely not from her time period.
"Oh forget it, you punk," she laughed.
"For your information, they won because I was distracted by a certain lovely woman who kept shooting her uncle dirty looks.
She slapped a hand over her eyes. "UGH! Those jokes. . .they were terrible. I mean, each one just kept getting worse and worse."
Dair grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from her face. "They were quite vivid; that"s for sure."
"You aren"t helping."
He shrugged. "I didn"t mind, especially since your face kept getting flushed." Dair pulled her towards him, so close that their bodies touched, and she had to tilt her head back to look up at him. "I had a very nice time tonight, Serenity," he told her as he met her gaze. "You have a wonderful family."
"I"m glad you came," she said and then licked her lips.
Dair bit back a groan as he watched her tongue slide across the plump flesh. Eyes up, Dair, he told himself and forced them up to her own eyes. He realized that it wasn"t any better. Serenity was looking at him with a hunger that nearly matched his own. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, lingering only for a second to breathe in her sweet scent, and then he stepped back putting much needed distance between them.
"I"d better go."
She nodded but then frowned. "Is that your truck?" She pointed to the beat up Chevy parked in the driveway.
He smiled at her. "You didn"t think I could drive, did you?"
"Not exactly," she admitted. "I just figured that since you didn"t need to drive then maybe you had never learned to."
"I have to do something in my spare time," he told her with a smile.
"Where"d you get the truck?"
Dair could tell she was wondering if he had stolen the vehicle. He hadn"t, not exactly. "I borrowed it from an acquaintance. I figured that it was the mode of transportation that your aunt and uncle would expect."
"Borrowed?"
"I might have used a little persuasion to get a gentleman to allow me to commandeer it. But, I"m returning it in actually better condition than when I took it. The transmission was about to go out in it, and I had Raphael use a little divine intervention to keep it running longer."
"Well, I suppose that isn"t technically stealing." Serenity grinned. "And you did help the guy out even if he will never know it."
They were quiet for a few minutes simply looking out into the clear winter night. The bright stars lit up the sky giving them a stunning view of the rolling land around them. Finally Dair broke the comfortable silence.
"Thank you again," he said as he stepped down off the porch and towards the truck. He turned and continued to walk backwards. "Perhaps, I could see you tomorrow?"
Serenity shrugged with a small smile. "Perhaps."
Serenity felt as if she were floating as she walked to her bedroom. She called a hasty goodnight to Darla and Wayne and then headed to her room to get ready for bed. It was a little earlier than her normal bedtime, but she was eager to drift off. There was no use in denying it; she missed Dair already and she hoped the Sandman would show up in her dreams tonight. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she changed clothes and quickly climbed into bed. But like a kid on Christmas Eve, Serenity lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, too excited to close her eyes. As it grew later and her eyes finally grew heavy, Serenity faded off to sleep, and her last thought was of a certain immortal who had captivated her in just a matter of days.
He didn"t come, Serenity thought as she sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast the next morning. She had been sure that Dair would show up to tell her goodnight, but he hadn"t, and she was more upset about it than she cared to admit.
"Why the long face?" Darla asked as she washed the morning dishes.
Serenity shrugged. She couldn"t very well tell her aunt that she was disappointed that a guy she was crushing on hadn"t shown up in her bedroom that night. No, she imagined that wouldn"t go over too well. "Just feeling blah."
Darla nodded. "I"ve had those days. This cold weather probably isn"t helping."
Serenity knew that the weather had nothing to do with her poor mood. She didn"t want to be depressed over a boy, immortal or otherwise, and yet no amount of telling herself to snap out of it was doing any good. She took her plate to the sink and handed it off to her aunt who refused to let her help. She had finally given up trying. "I think I"m going to go into town; maybe a little holiday shopping will cheer me up."
Serenity flipped on the radio in her car and turned it to one of the stations that was playing holiday music all day long. She tried to think about the gifts she needed to get, but her mind kept drifting back to onyx black eyes and lips too full for their own good. Unable to focus, she decided that instead of shopping, she"d go pay Glory a visit. If anyone could cheer her up, it would be her best friend.
"I had a feeling I would be seeing you on this cold Sunday," Glory said as she opened her front door and motioned for Serenity to enter. "So who kicked your puppy?"
Serenity huffed out a less than enthusiastic laugh. "I look that downtrodden?"
Glory rolled her eyes. "Who the h.e.l.l says things like that? Downtrodden? What are you seventy-five?"
"Dair came over for dinner last night," she told her as she plopped down unceremoniously on the well-loved couch.
"Well, did he kick one of your puppies or something? I would have thought hanging out with him would have put an extra pep in your step, not reduced you to a sulking three-year-old."
"No, he was great, but I guess I just thought he would come by to say goodnight. But," she looked away from the scrutiny of Glory"s gaze.
"Ahh, so you"ve got it bad. Is that what you"re telling me?"
Serenity closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. "How did this happen? I was all prepared to be aloof and mysterious and not let him get to me, and now I"m waiting up for him at night hoping he will throw me a bone."
Glory snorted. "That"s pretty funny considering you work in a vet clinic."
"Ha, ha," she responded dryly.
"So, I"m guessing you came over here for old Glory to cheer you up?"
Serenity nodded. "Are you free today or are you helping with your mom?"
"Dad"s taken her to the beauty shop to get her do done. So, I"m free for a little while."